Three Stages of Love: Attraction (31 page)

Samantha sniffled through her tears of joy as the priest nodded to her to proceed.

“Marcus, from the moment I saw you, I knew that the feeling inside me wasn’t that of just any love.”

I could feel her words as she spoke them, and it took me back to the day when she had first met Marcus—and the night that had progressed for me with Alexander. And my eyes met his in a truthful and all-encompassing connection. Samantha continued as tears rolled down her face and mine. And my eyes carried the words she spoke to Alexander standing only a few feet across from me.

“The love I felt for you that first day was real and palpable, but I never could have imagined it would grow to the intensity and enormity that exists within my heart today. I promise to hold you always as my one and only true love. I promise to only fear losing you and nothing else as long as you are by my side. I will follow you to the ends of the earth and to the depths of the seas as long as you hold my hand as we voyage together. Most of all I promise to tell you every day for the rest of my life and in the hereafter simply that
I love you!
”

And as she finished sliding the ring on Marcus’s finger, there wasn’t a single person left who wasn’t in tears, including myself and Alexander.

It’s funny how men try to hide their tears, blotting the sides of their eyes the minute it feels damp. And women, even the strongest of women, can weep in public with not a second thought about it.

“You may now kiss the bride,” the priest announced, causing us to shift our locked gaze to Samantha and Marcus.

We welcomed the new couple and applauded their love as they made their way back down the aisle as Mr. and Mrs.

Alexander joined me in the center of the alter, and as I went to place my arm into his, as is customary for the maid of honor and best man to do, he took my hand and raised it to his lips. “I love you, Evangeline.”

And I took all the air that existed in the world in to me before responding.

“I love you too, Alexander.”

Only now there was no stopping his tears. Alexander’s chest grabbed all the air that was left in the room to keep himself from passing out. He tightened his hold on my hand, and we proceeded to walk up the aisle together.

The wedding continued in delicate and elegant fashion; with the usual dances, cake cutting, and long lines of goodbyes. The reception was spectacular in a vineyard out on the far east end of Long Island, but the ceremony had been my all-time favorite. We danced into the night and enjoyed every minute together. All of the bullshit and anger put aside, there was no place for it on such a day in a room filled with so much love and happiness.

“May I have this dance?” Alexander asked, extending his hand to help me up.

I nodded.

We walked onto an empty dance floor, and the band began to play “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing” by Aerosmith!

“Did you plan this?” I asked him in a soft giggle.

“Sometimes I plan things, and they go well. And other times I plan things that don’t go so well. But whether it’s simply having a song played for you or planning the rest of my life with you, I need you to know that none of it is ever done without your heart, your mind, and your body’s best interests. I need you to take my love and do with it what you will, for without you I can’t bear to hold this love within me,” he confessed.

“I don’t know how I feel about everything that has happened. I am consumed by all of this joy right now, and all that is apparent is that I want to share this joy with you. I’m sorry for never having said I love you. I’m sorry for the pain I have caused you and for the love that I made you hurt for. I see now that true love is difficult to hold on to. But if love is true, it will surpass even the most difficult of moments and shine through the darkest of nights. I want to be with you, Alexander. You are my heart’s one and only desire. But I can’t go back to LA, and I won’t leave my job. I tried for you, and now I need you to try for me.” It took all of my strength not to fall to the ground from the intensity of emotions that filled my veins, but I remained strong—strong for the love that was testing me.

“I have already started trying for you,” he explained as he placed my arms over his shoulders and held my chest tightly against his. “I sold the contract back to Tom. I told him that I couldn’t stay in LA, and he was good with that. I would rather not mention her in this moment, but, I fired Chloe. She no longer exists in our lives. And I am here now and forever professing my love and devotion to you.”

“Thank you. I can only promise you that I will love you for as long as my heart allows me to,” I said, sealing my words with a kiss.

“We made it,” he said, smirking.

Confused, I lifted my eyebrows. “Made it where?”

“We made it through the second stage of love: the attraction or power struggle stage. We learned each other’s strengths and weaknesses, and we fought through the obstacles of finding a middle ground,” he said.

I had to laugh. Through all this he still had that damn article in mind. “Well, you are wrong about one thing: we haven’t found a middle ground, so maybe we didn’t make it past stage two yet?”

“No, we haven’t found it yet,” he agreed, “but we have both agreed that we need a middle ground, and
that
is half the battle.”

“I’m willing to battle with you by my side,” I attested.

“As am I, my great love, Evangeline.”

And as the song ended, Alexander escorted me out of the restaurant’s double doors and through the vineyard, up to the suite he had reserved for the evening.

We walked hand in hand into the suite and immediately hung on to each other as if it were our first and last embrace.

“Take me, Alexander, and fill me with all the love you hold within you,” I begged, needing him near.

“I want to take you. I want to fill you. I want to live eternally within your soul.” His words were muffled through his kisses and maneuvers to unleash me from my dress. The dress fell to the floor, and Alexander scooped me up and laid me on the bed.

He is my knight!

Slipping my panties off, he kissed me voraciously, tasting every part of my mouth. I tried to reach my hand for a feel of his cock, but he slid down between my legs and latched onto to my clit in a moment’s time. My body spasms jolted me immediately as the screams that made their way out of my throat rang through my body.

“How does that feel, my love?” he said, lifting his eyes to watch me jerk through his lapping of my sex.

“Don’t stop, Alexander, please,” I begged him, craving all he could give me.

He widened my lips and exposed me fully, taking his mouth back onto me in a suckling motion as he penetrated me with his fingers. He licked his fingers over and over as I continued to wet him for the celestial orgasm he was taking me to.

“Cum for me, Evangeline,” he commanded.

But all I could think about was him fucking me. “Please, Alexander, cum inside me. I need you inside me, fucking me like you never have before.”

“Not until I taste you on my tongue. Now cum for me.”

And with his orders, he returning to licking and sucking at my pussy like he was starved for it. And when his movement became faster and more forceful, I leaned my body over him to hold on for the release of a lifetime.

“Don’t stop, Alexander. I am almost there. I’m…I’m—
ahhhh, Alexander
!” My divine cries could be heard from the heavens—exactly where my body was floating up to.

Alexander released my gripped hands from his hair and sat me onto his lap. His back leaned against the headboard as we sat face-to-face in the more emotional and personal of positions. He positioned his massive and wanting cock inside of me as I twitched from the orgasm that was still lingering. I locked my legs behind his back and my arms around his neck while I slid down him euphorically.

The moment was unexplainable. We were consciously and wholeheartedly diving into each other with every part of our bodies and our souls.

“I want to cum inside you, Evangeline,” he requested.

And not thinking twice about the request, I responded, “I wouldn’t have it any other way!”

Alexander groaned enthusiastically as he pressed me to his chest and pushed my hips harder onto his cock. I could feel the wetness form inside of me drip down his shaft every time I stroked him, and it felt amazing!

“Hold on to me,” he instructed.

And as I did, he seemed to have grown inside me, his pounding cock bursting into me with vigor and longing. His fingers burned as he pulled me into him, pulling at my skin and devouring my body.

“Cum for me, Alexander. Cum inside of me.” I pleaded for his release and our mutual fulfillment.

And like honey to a bee, the louder I moaned, the closer he came to a long-awaited release.

“
FUUUUCK!
” he screamed in a long, extended breath, embracing me as his perspired body attached itself to me. “I love you so much I can’t stand it.”

“I hope you can stand it. Because I can’t love you this much if you can’t handle it,” I giggled, laying into him and resting my head on his shoulder.

“I can handle all that you have to bring at me, my love: forever and always.”

Locking our lips, we threw away the key.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

Alexander held me in his arms, breathless. The only things that filled his lungs were pure devotion and love.

He cupped my face in his hand and held my stare. “The morning you left,” he said, sighing deeply, “I headed out early in hopes that I would return to find you still in bed.”

“You went to work,” I said, remembering the sadness that I had held within me when I awoke to find Alexander gone.

“No, I did not.”

Alexander removed his arm from underneath my head and slid off the bed to where he had dropped his tuxedo pants. He fumbled with them, searching for the front pockets, where he then dug his hand searching for something. Through the candlelight he walked toward me and made his way back to my side, sliding his godly body against mine.

“I didn’t go to work that morning. I went somewhere much more important.”

And as he brought his right arm forward, a small box was presented before me. The square, glossy box shook as Alexander tried to steady his hand that held it out to me.

“Alexander…” I whispered, with no other words to say, trembling as I pondered the contents.

“Evangeline, I want you to think about nothing. I want you to say nothing. The only things I want you to do are to feel and to react to that feeling that you hold chained within your heart. You are my existence. You are my summer breeze and winter frost. You hold the desire and the excitement to fill my fantasies for a lifetime. I am humbled by your strength and strengthened by your fears. You are the missing piece to my puzzle that no one has ever had the grace or the capacity to fill. I have till now felt that I’ve lived a full life, but the life I’ve lived with you makes all the years past pale in comparison. I am not certain of how long of a life we will have, but I am certain that there are sixty minutes in an hour and twenty-four hours in a day, and if all I have is one more of those days left, I will gladly accept it as my last as long as it is spent in your embrace.”

Alexander motioned to open the small, glorious box—but I had to stop him.

“Wait, I have to use the bathroom.” I jumped from the bed, feeling the wetness from our lustful and erotic encounter seeping down my legs. “I’m sorry; just let me clean up—I will be right back.” And I strolled past the bed as Alexander watched me in a daze of confusion.

I was uncharacteristically excited, as I sensed that the contents of the small box would cement my life with Alexander forever. The rush of emotions prickled my skin in the most fascinating of chills and wondrous emotions. My exhilaration was clouding me, causing me to stumble as I raced to reach the bathroom down the hall.

I opened the bathroom door and ran my hand up and down the wall, searching for the light switch.

I turned toward the mirror and braced my palms on the vanity as I stared at my tear-filled face. For the first time since I could remember, my tears were joyful and consuming me with love-filled sensations.

I am in love
, I confirmed, smiling to the bright-eyed and hopeful stare in the mirror.

And as I immersed myself in my bliss, I almost forgot the reason I had gone to the bathroom in the first place; then I felt a drop of warmth on the inside of my foot.

I looked down slightly disturbed and a little grossed out that I was making a mess of myself.

But what I had expected was not at all what I found. The dark stain that now dripped down the side of my foot was blood and not my sex’s secretions.

As I bent at the waist to examine the liquid, my legs bowed open. But the gasp that escaped my lips wasn’t nearly as terrifying as the shrill cry that then forced itself up through my lungs and out of my throat. I screamed for what felt like an hour as I stared at the blood that stained my inner thighs and my sex. The blood was coming out from my vagina in steady, thick drips.

The pounding at the door jarred me, but I couldn’t move or respond. In the seconds that transpired, my mind reeled into a motion picture of flashing scenes of the last few months, and I contemplated the worst of all endings.

The molding on the inside of the bathroom door flew off to one side as Alexander forced his shoulder into the door, prying it open.

His tan, flush-filled face from moments ago was now drained, almost instantaneously leaving him pale and fearful. He was at a loss for words, but the terror came at me through his eyes as he gaped at the crimson markings that coated my skin and the tile floor.

His concern reverberated through me, making me drop to my knees.

“
Alexander!
” I screamed, hoping that he could wash this terror away as he had begun to wash away my fears.

But he had no strength as he barely stood, stupefied in horror, not knowing what was happening.

And with all the will and breath that was left in me, I yelled from the depths of my soul…

“
Our baby!
”